The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) has urged Custom House to deliver faster and more simplified services to apparel exporters. BGMEA President Faruque Hassan said: "Given the stiff competition in the global apparel market, the shorter lead time will help readymade garments (RMG) factories become more competitive in the export market. If custom clearance procedures are made more simplified and quicker, it will save time in shipping export goods." Read: BGMEA, Recover discuss collaboration to turn Bangladesh into global recycling hub Faruque had a meeting with AKM Nurul Huda Azad, commissioner of Dhaka Custom House, Sunday. BGMEA Director Asif Ashraf, Abdullah Hil Rakib; Dhaka Custom House additional commissioners Kazi Farid Uddin, and Md Moshiur Rahman were also present at the meeting held in Dhaka. They discussed issues related to the RMG industry, particularly the problems faced by RMG exporters regarding custom house services. Read: BGMEA seeks faster, simplified customs bond services Faruque said the RMG industry has set a target of earing $100 billion from exports by 2030, which requires a holistic approach and support from the government. "As we are aiming for higher growth to increase our global market share in the coming days, faster and easier import-export services will be required to reduce lead time and cost," he added. Nurul assured of the BGMEA of their cooperation and support in this regard.  

Speakers at seminar on ‘Prospect of Bangladesh as Regional Aviation Hub’ have suggested the government to improve the services at the country’s domestic and international airports.They said only improvement in aviation services could attract the foreign tourists that would play vital role to turn Bangladesh into a regional aviation hub.Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) Air Vice Marshall M. Mafidur Rahman, presiding over the function, said after completion of the construction of third terminal of the Shah Jalal International Airport, aviation passengers will see a substantial improvement in the services.“We will maintain international standard in our service… We’ve already appointed foreign consultants in this regard’, he told the seminar, held on the sideline of the international travel and tourism fair titled : Triplover Dhaka Travel Mart-2022, at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel in the city. Also read: Bangladesh to be turned into a global aviation hub: Hasina Organised by The Bangladesh Monitor the seminar was also addressed by Md. Abdullah Al Mamun, Managing Director of US-Bangla Airlines; Mofizur Rahman, Managing Director of Novoair; and A T M Nazrul Islam, Managing Director of United Airways Bangladesh Ltd.Representatives from different stakeholders of the country’s aviation industry including regulators, airlines, concerned apex trade bodies, aviation experts, and aviation reporters also spoke on the occasion.The participants mainly discussed on the existing hurdles and opportunities in development of Bangladesh aviation sector, and how to harness the potentials in establishing Bangladesh as a regional aviation hub, in line with the aspiration of the nation. Also read: Aviation sector growth to triple in next 15 years: State Minister Kazi Wahidul Alam, Editor The Bangladesh Monitor, moderated the session.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday asked the public servants to ensure that the general people are not deprived of the services provided by the government. “You have to make sure that people of Bangladesh are never deprived of getting services.  Remember, our independence is meant for changing their fate,” she said while addressing the certificate giving ceremony of 121, 122 and 123 batches of Law and Administration course. The programme was held at BCS Administration Academy in Shahbagh while the prime minister joined virtually from her official residence Ganobhaban. She asked the civil servants that fruits of the independence have to be reached to every house of the country and that is the aim of the government, “Whenever you work you have to always think about the people of the country,” she said. She mentioned that the public servants working in the field should know every detail about the place where they are posted and work. Hasina stressed effective coordination of development programmes of the government for timely implementation and getting better results. She also said that if any problem arises regarding any development programme of the government in any area the respective field official has to coordinate that for its successful completion. She termed the young government officials as the driving force in achieving the lofty goal of making Bangladesh a developed nation by 2041. “You have to work towards that direction from now on,” she said. READ: PM wants autistic children to flourish through collective efforts

Bangladesh Bank (BB) has instructed banks and Financial Institutions (FIs) to continue uninterrupted banking services with limited manpower despite worsening Covid situation. All the scheduled banks, FIs were asked to take Business Continuity Plan (BCP) along with execution preparations of to continue the banking services. Payment System Department (PSD) of the BB on Tuesday issued a notification in this regard and sent to the top executives of all banks and FIs to implement immediately. READ: BB asks banks to operate office with half of manpower The notification asked the banks and FIs  to encourage customers to prefer Mobile Application based banking, Card Not Present (CNP), near field communication (NFC) transactions instead of physical presence based transactions. The BB asked the concerned to keep enough money in the cash out points, mobile financial service (MFS), agent banking outlets and ATM booths to meet the customers’ instant demand of cash money. READ: Bank officials, staff must have vaccine certificates :BB Besides, the banks were asked to ensure necessary cyber security measures along with adequate precautionary steps to meet emergency services.

Bangladesh Railway is going to restore its passenger train services for eight days from July 15-22 across the country keeping 50% of the seats empty apparently to facilitate the movement of people during the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha. A notification in this regard with further details will be issued by the Cabinet Division soon, said Railways Minister Md Nurul Islam Sujon on Monday. READ: Special cattle trains ahead of Eid-ul-Azha He said the train tickets will, however, be available online and not in any ticket counter. A record rise in the number of Covid cases and fatalities in recent days prompted the government to enforce a nationwide lockdown suspending all the public transport services, including passenger trains. Now the nationwide lockdown, first imposed for a week until July 7 midnight, has been extended for another week until July 14 midnight as the Covid infections keep spreading across the country. READ: Train services on several routes suspended